Babysitting
by PetchricorXConstellation
Summary: Maine escaped the lake and is now making is way out of the 'winter wonderland'. But three simulation soldiers are in trouble, and he gives them a hand. But will Maine let them come with him, or leave them to freeze in winter? *Rated T for some swearing and wiggle room. Extra genre for later chapter: Hurt/Comfort. Other characters: Caboose, Doc, and Donut*
1. Chapter 1

**This another one of my totally random ideas that popped into my head that I thought would be interesting. This chapter fluffy, so many feels. Anyway, hope you enjoy!**

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Ex-agent Maine slowly opened his eyes and sat up, letting out a a groan and rubbing the back of his head as he got to his feet. Sleeping on the ground of a cave was not very comfortable, nor was good for the neck either. Maine sighed and grabbed his helmet, putting it back on before stepping out of the cave. The forest in front of him was completely frozen and covered in snow, though this wasn't surprising. Maine let out another soft sigh and walked out into the frozen forest, planning on walking the entire day until the nighttime fell upon him. Little did he know that three little simulation soldiers were going to ruin his plans.

...

It was the middle of the afternoon and Maine was still walking through the snow, which had now become knee-high on the ex-freelancer, and he hadn't gone as far as he would've liked because the snow was slowing him down. And for the first time since he started walking that morning he stopped in his tracks, raising his head high and looking in both directions, his ears straining on each side of his head. He shrugged and was about to continue on his way when he heard something, making him raise his head again as he listened. He heard it again. It was faint, but it was clearly screaming.

He listened a moment more and heard that it was coming from the north, and it was obvious they were terrified. Without knowing why he was doing it Maine had broken off into a full-out run in the direction he heard the screaming. Maine ducked behind a bolder as he spotted four UNSC soldiers in black-clad armor. Luckily they hadn't seen him, so that gave him a moment to think. He heard something, or someone, being dragged through the snow.

"Hey! Leggo!" a voice shouted. Maine peeked around the large rock to see the two of the four UNSC soldiers, obvious to him now that they were Spartans, were restraining two soldiers, which were much shorted and weaker as it were. One wore purple armor and the other wore pink as the two struggled. And Maine could've sworn he had seen them before, but he shrugged it off and watched as one of the Spartans walked over, dragging a blue solider with him. The blue solider kicked in a useless effort to free himself from the much stronger Spartan.

"Let go! Leave us alone!" he screamed at them, the voice ringing familiarity in Maine's ears, but he again ignored it. Only once the Spartans all stood together with the colorful soldiers in their grasp did Maine slowly take his bruteshot from his back and cocked it, making sure the Spartans heard the noise. Once they were frantic and looking around for the noise Maine lept over the bolder and fired, hitting one of the Spartans and sending him back, making him bang up against the tree with his head in pieces

"Meta!" one of them cried, all three of the captured soldiers struggling in fear. That's when it clicked in Maine's head. These were the simulation soldiers that kicked his ass last time. Great, because that's what he needed right now. Maine shook the thoughts out of his mind and rammed his knife into the belly of one of the Spartans, setting the blue one free as he ran away and watched as Maine took on another.

The last two standing let go of their prisoners and faced the larger foe. Maine shot right at their feet and the explosion sent them flying. But they quickly recovered and were getting to their feet. Maine turned to the colorful soldiers in an instant, all three looking at him. He roared at them and motioned with his bruteshot. The blue one grabbed the other two by the wrists and dragged them along as he ran. Maine turned back to the Spartans and fired three times, knocking them off their feet yet again as he ran of to join the other three.

...

Maine shoved the three soldiers into the cave and all ran inside, going as deep into the cave as they were willing and hiding as best they could. Maine hid behind a rock that hid him just barely and glared as the blue soldier looking around aimlessly. He looked down at Maine and gave a small whimpering noise. Maine heard the Spartan's coming up towards the cave. He grabbed the soldier by the wrist and pulled him down towards him, grabbing his helmetless head and putting his armored hand over his mouth, making the whimpering stop as he did so.

He heard armored feet against the cave floor as the Spartans entered and the younger soldier in Maine's arms tensed at the sound, pulling his feet up out of sight and swallowing nervously. Maine closed his eyes and listened to the noise of the Spartans walking around the cave, he heard them stop and there was talking, but it was quiet and he couldn't hear what they were saying.

"Sir, we lost them," a voice said. Over a Comm-link Maine heard someone talking, and it was obvious they weren't happy. There was a moment of silence, one that made Maine a little uneasy. "Move out!" There was a sound of pounding feet on the cave floor as the Spartans left, then there was silence. The blue soldier went to stand but Maine held him down, still listening. Once he was sure they were gone he let soldier go and they both stood. The soldier ran over to the other two and they talked a moment. The purple one looked over at Maine, and the others joined him.

"Um, thanks," he said, taking a few steps closer to him. "I'm Doc, this is Donut, and that's Caboose." Each one nodded at their names. Maine merely grunted and walked to the edge of the cave, looking around and making sure that the tracks the Spartans had made really did point away from the cave and didn't just double back around, showing signs of a trap. Luckily, they did not.

"Hey, hey Mr. Meta!" came the voice of Caboose. Maine cringed a bit and turned to face him as he walked over, the other two trailing behind. "Could we come with you?" Maine snarled and looked at them all, glaring a little. He brought his gaze back to Caboose.

_I don't do babysitting _he growled. Caboose glared at him and Donut walked up to stand beside him. Maine went to turn and leave, knowing that they probably had nod idea what he said and that they would follow him anyway. But he stopped in his tracks as he was about to leave.

"We're soldiers, not kids," Donut told him sourly. Maine turned to look over at them, seeing the three all in a line with their arms crossed. "And we don't need to be babysat, thank you very much." Doc and Caboose nodded firmly. Maine looked at the three curiously and tilted his head slightly.

_You know what I'm saying? _Maine growled. All three nodded, Caboose giving a confused look as to why he asked such a question. Maine sighed and looked out into the forest covered with snow, thinking it over a moment. He turned back to them. _Just try to keep up. _Maine then turned away and walked through the snow, hearing the other three coming up behind him. He sighed. This was going to be interesting. He looked over as Caboose came up next to him, Doc right beside him. He looked over to his right to see Donut coming up as well. He shook his head. Yeah, interesting was one way to put it.

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**And that's all for now folks! But don't worry, there's more coming! For those of you that know, I will not be leaving on the 31st, plans changed. My group and I were talking about it and we agreed that stuff like this was no including in that, so I'm staying aboard! Also, Big Z and I are working on a RvB: Authors Addition story as well, so be on the look out for that. Oh, and I've got a surprise coming up for ya, but no spoilers. ;)**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day!  
Perla: And may it be the best one ever, of all time!  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Well, if my friend agrees to be my co-author on this account we will be putting up a pretty amazing story in a few days, one that I'm sure you'll all enjoy! But until that happens, I'm wrapping up this story before I never get to it, because most of the chapter stories I write never finish, and I don't want to do that. So, enjoy!  
**

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Maine stood looking over the frozen lake without interest. It had been a long day with the sim. troopers following him, at least they had been able to keep up. He sighed a bit and sat down, watching as the sun slowly set against what once had been his frozen prison. He tensed as someone tapped him on the shoulder. Maine looked over to see Caboose standing there with Donut and Doc standing a ways back, watching. Maine stood up and grunted as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"I was wondering if you could teach us how to fight?" Caboose asked timidly, sounding worried about his answer. Maine raised an eyebrow at him, then looked back at the others. They didn't know how to fight? He looked back Caboose as the young soldier messed with his fingers, giving Maine a worried glanced. Maine hummed in thought, looking at Doc and Donut again. He nodded and looked back at Caboose. Caboose's face lit up. "Really?" Maine nodded again. "Great!" Maine grunted as Caboose grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him over to Doc and Donut. "He said yes! Well, he didn't really say it, he nodded. But that's the same thing!" Maine shook his head. Caboose could be over-dramatic sometimes.

"Really? That's great! Where do we start Mr. Meta?" Donut asked excitedly. Maine looked at Donut and gave a slow growl, getting them to back up. He stopped and realized that they didn't know why he was growling, so he might as well tell them.

_Maine _he growled. _Not Meta, or Mr. Meta for that matter. _All three nodded in understanding and relaxed a little as he explained this. Maine looked them all over and let out a small sigh. This wasn't going to be easy. Sim. troopers were never trained for fighting, at least not real fighting. He glanced over at the setting sun, then turned back to the soldiers, who all looked over eager. He sighed. It was gonna be a long night.

...

Wash backed up against the base with Grif and Simmons as they had six shotguns aimed at them. Grif and Simmons looked at Wash, as if asking him to do something. But he didn't even look back. One of them cocked their shotgun, and the others followed suit, Wash closed his eyes. After all he had been through, he was going to go down like this? You know, he really wasn't-his thoughts were interrupted as he heard all the soldier yell, two gunshots, another groan, three more gunshots, then silence.

"You have no idea the amount of trouble you are in," came the most horrifying voice Wash had ever heard. His eyes shot open and he gasped as Doc stood before them, gun in hand. The last three soldiers backed up as Doc cocked his shotgun and aimed it at them. "Now leave! I have work to attend to, ahaha! Beat it!" The soldiers screamed and ran. Wash heard Grif mutter something, and he didn't like the fact that it sounded close along the lines of O'malley. Doc coughed and lowered his gun. "That hurt my throat!" he whined in his normal voice.

"Doc?" Wash asked slowly. The purple soldier turned to look at Wash and tossed the weapon aside. He was about to speak when the gun was thrown back at him and landed perfectly in his arms as if it were some sort of cheap cartoon. Doc huffed and turned to look over, yelping as a gunshot rang out and he jumped to the side.

"I don't fight someone who's unarmed," a deep voice said and a soldier walked over. Doc huffed and tossed his weapon to the ground, charging at the solider as he did the same. Wash couldn't look, but he couldn't look away either!

"Holy shit!" Grif shouted and Wash looked over, gasping at the sight. Doc had the soldier in the headlock and had kicked him in the guy, making him stagger back as Doc brought his fists together and made them come crashing down on his spine. He then leaped out of the way as Caboose ran over and kneed him in the face, kicking him back so Donut, who had seemed to come out of nowhere, kicked him in the back and stepped on him, holding him down firmly.

"When did you guys become epic?" Tucker asked as Caboose kicked the guy in the head, knocking him out. The trio shrugged together. The others joined in, but soon stopped instantly. "META!" They all took out their weapons and aimed, but the trio of idiots were faster as they stood in front of the ex-freelancer.

"No! Don't shoot!" Caboose shouted. Wash narrowed his eyes at them, not liking the idea of them siding with the Meta. "He's our friend, he's the reason we're even alive right now." Wash found his weapon lowering as he saw the larger man ruffle Caboose's hair and wrap an arm around Donut, who clung to his arm with a happy laugh. The others all stared at Wash, wondering why he had lowered his weapon..

"Maine?" he said, his voice quiet and unsure. He looked up at Wash and gave a light growl, Donut and Caboose shared confused looks and walked over by Doc as his beckoning. "How do I know it's really you? How do I know that you're not still that monster-thing?" Wash had raised his weapon again, taking a slightly threatening step forward. Maine tilted his head a bit, though not in a confused manner.

_You have two older brothers named James and Mark. Oh, and you snore, talk in your sleep, and had a kitten hidden under you bunk. She was cute by the way, extremely friendly. _Wash stared at Maine, shocked at all this and not noticing as Caboose, Doc, and Donut all shared confused looks at this. Maine gave a slight shrug. _And you stole my bruteshot once and I nearly tore your arm off. Is that enough for you? _Wash gave a smile and dropped his gun.

"Yeah, that's enough," he said. Grif and the others all shrugged at each other and lowered with own weapons. Maine chuckled a bit and grunted as Caboose hugged him.

"Does that mean I can keep him? Huh, Wash? Can I, can I?!" Everyone laughed at this and Caboose yelped as he was lifted up into the air and Maine held him upside down. "Maaaiine! Put my down!" Maine shook his head in amusement and chuckled lightly at this.

"And for the record, yes Caboose, we can keep him," Wash said. Caboose looked at him, eyes probably wide behind his helmet.

"Really?!" he said, grunting as Maine dropped him. Wash nodded and Caboose cheered. "Yay! Come on, I'll show you the base!" Caboose then dragged Maine over to blue base with Doc and Donut following right behind, all chattering about different things. Wash expected Maine to punch or shoot them, but instead he simply listened to them and laughed a few times as well. Wash chuckled and shook his head. These guys were not short of a miracle sometimes.

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**The End. I like feels, feels are nice.  
**

**Thanks for reading, please review, and have a bow chicka bow wow day.  
Perla: And may it be the best one ever, of all time  
**


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